apihttp://www.maximumpc.com/taxonomy/term/3537/
enAMD to Developers: Focus Your Efforts on DirectX 12, Not Mantlehttp://www.maximumpc.com/amd_developers_focus_your_efforts_directx_12_not_mantle_2015
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u69/mantle_rip.jpg" alt="Mantle R.I.P." title="Mantle R.I.P." width="228" height="159" style="float: right;" />Goodbye Mantle, we hardly knew ye</h3>
<p>In a blog post on Monday, AMD's Raja Koduri waxed nostalgic on Mantle and how it "revolutionized the industry's thinking on low-overhead/high-throughput graphics," among other things. But at the end of what reads like a reluctant death sentence, <strong>AMD told developers that if they're interested in Mantle 1.0's functionality, they should focus their attention on DirectX 12 or GLnext</strong>.</p>
<p>AMD never outright declares that Mantle is dead, and it even vowed to support its partners that have committed to Mantle in future projects, such as Battlefield Hardline. Likewise, <a href="http://community.amd.com/community/amd-blogs/amd-gaming/blog/2015/03/02/on-apis-and-the-future-of-mantle" target="_blank">AMD talked</a> about a need for Mantle to take on new capabilities, to "evolve beyond mastery of the draw call," and that it will continue to serve the company as a graphics innovation platform available to select partners with custom needs.</p>
<p>So technically, Mantle isn't dead, it's just largely been rendered expendable with DirectX 12 in the wings. Rather than fight it, AMD is encouraging developers to move one, save for those with very specific needs. Or at least that's how we're reading the blog post.</p>
<p>Koduri also said that AMD no longer plans to release Mantle as a public SDK. Instead, the company is making available Mantle's 450-page programming guide and API reference, which developers will be able to download sometime later this month.</p>
<p>It's a very odd announcement, as Koduri tells developers interested in Mantle to focus on DX12 instead, and then ends things by saying, "Join AMD this week at Game Developer Conference 2015 to see not just the future of Mantle, but the future of PC graphics as well."</p>
<p>We'll have more details later this week as they emerge.</p>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/amd_developers_focus_your_efforts_directx_12_not_mantle_2015#commentsamdapidirectx 12GLnextmantleSoftwareNewsTue, 03 Mar 2015 16:45:43 +0000Paul Lilly29526 at http://www.maximumpc.comAMD Exec "Misspoke" Regarding DirectX 12 Not Working with Windows 7http://www.maximumpc.com/amd_exec_misspoke_regarding_directx_12_not_working_windows_7_2014
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u69/dx12_0.jpg" alt="DirectX 12" title="DirectX 12" width="228" height="161" style="float: right;" />Maybe DirectX 12 is bound for Windows 7, after all</h3>
<p><strong>AMD Chief Gaming Scientist Richard Huddy made waves in the media when he said Windows 7 will not support DirectX 12</strong>. He made the comment in a matter-of-fact manner while speaking at the PDXLAN event, which was caught on video (and later pulled from YouTube). Whether or not that ends up being true remains to be seen, but as far as his comments go, AMD called them "speculative," adding that he "misspoke" on the topic.</p>
<p>"There have been reports based on a video of Richard Huddy of AMD making speculative comments around DirectX 12 support on versions of Windows," AMD said in a statement, <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/amd-misspoke-saying-directx-12-won-t-work-with-win/1100-6423617/" target="_blank">according to <em>GameSpot</em></a>. "Richard Huddy does not speak for Microsoft, and he was unfortunately speculating from Microsoft’s publication of key dates and milestones for Windows 7 lifecycle and mainstream support policy. Richard has no special insight into Microsoft’s Windows or DirectX roadmaps. Microsoft is a key, strategic partner for AMD and we’re continuously collaborating with them on DirectX 12."</p>
<p>No doubt AMD received an earful from Microsoft following Huddy's comments, especially since gamers haven't been all that eager about upgrading to Windows 8, which Microsoft confirmed will support DX12. Whether Huddy is privy to inside info or not, Microsoft hasn't officially said one way or another whether Windows 7 will support DX12.</p>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/amd_exec_misspoke_regarding_directx_12_not_working_windows_7_2014#commentsamdapidirectx 12dx12microsoftrichard huddyNewsMon, 17 Nov 2014 20:55:43 +0000Paul Lilly28946 at http://www.maximumpc.comYes, DirectX 12 is Shipping with Windows 10http://www.maximumpc.com/yes_directx_12_shipping_windows_10
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u69/forza.jpg" alt="Forza" title="Forza" width="228" height="128" style="float: right;" />Microsoft confirms that DirectX 12 will be included in the final release of Windows 10</h3>
<p>In case you were wondering, <strong>Microsoft fully intends to bake DirectX 12 support into the final version of Windows 10</strong> when it releases next year, the company confirmed in a DX developer <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/directx/archive/2014/10/01/directx-12-and-windows-10.aspx" target="_blank">blog post</a>. Oh, and also in case you were wondering, Microsoft thinks "it's going to be awesome," which is much better than the company saying, "Meh, it's simply okay. Actually, it kind of sucks, but we're including it anyway."</p>
<p>Game developers who want to get a head start playing with the API can register for the DirectX <a href="https://onedrive.live.com/survey?resid=A4B88088C01D9E9A!107&amp;authkey=!AFgbVA2sYbeoepQ" target="_blank">Early Access</a> Program. Those who are accepted will receive updated runtimes, API headers, drivers, documentation, and samples, all of which Microsoft says will work with the Windows 10 Technical Preview.</p>
<p>But wait, there's more! Microsoft has teamed up with Epic to create a DX12 branch on the Unreal Engine 4 GitHub repository. It supports UE 4.4, which is the latest publicly released version of the Unreal 4 Engine. Those who also <a href="http://www.unrealengine.com/" target="_blank">subscribe to Unreal Engine 4</a> can join Microsoft's open development project.</p>
<p>Like AMD's Mantle technology, the DX12 API offers developers deeper access into hardware to improve performance. It also introduces a set of new rendering pipeline features that <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/directx/archive/2014/03/20/directx-12.aspx" target="_blank">Microsoft says</a> will "dramatically improve the efficiency of algorithms."</p>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/yes_directx_12_shipping_windows_10#commentsapidirectx 12dx12microsoftoperating systemOSSoftwarewindows 10NewsFri, 03 Oct 2014 15:20:58 +0000Paul Lilly28658 at http://www.maximumpc.comMicrosoft Spills the Beans on DirectX 12, SupportedTitles Scheduled for Holiday 2015http://www.maximumpc.com/microsoft_spills_beans_directx_12_supportedtitles_scheduled_holiday_2015
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u69/forza_5.jpg" alt="Forza 5" title="Forza 5" width="228" height="153" style="float: right;" />DirectX 12 provides developers with lower level access to hardware</h3>
<p><strong>Microsoft unveiled details about its DirectX 12 API at the Game Developer Conference</strong> (GDC) today. According to Microsoft, its team of engineers redesigned the API with a focus on speed and efficiency. DX12 will enable richer scenes, more objects, and fully utilize modern GPU hardware. On top of it all, DX12 works across different types of Microsoft devices, including phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and the Xbox One.</p>
<p>Let the comparisons to AMD's Mantle API begin, primarily because both technologies promise a deeper level of access to the hardware.</p>
<p>"[DX12] provides a lower level of hardware abstraction than ever before, allowing games to significantly improve multithread scaling and CPU utilization," Microsoft stated in a <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/directx/archive/2014/03/20/directx-12.aspx" target="_blank">blog post</a>. "In addition, games will benefit from reduced GPU overhead via features such as descriptor tables and concise pipeline state objects. And that’s not all – Direct3D 12 also introduces a set of new rendering pipeline features that will dramatically improve the efficiency of algorithms such as order-independent transparency, collision detection, and geometry culling."</p>
<p>Perhaps the biggest news for some is that DirectX 12 will run on most of the cards out in the wild today, so you don't need to wrestle with the question of whether or not it's worth it to upgrade.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u69/3dmark_dx12.jpg" alt="3DMark DX12" title="3DMark DX12" width="550" height="322" /></p>
<p>Obviously it's too early to make any kind of conclusions about DX12, but so far, it looks promising. To show off what's capable with the new API, Microsoft ported Futuremark's 3DMark benchmark to use Direct3D 12, which resulted in two major improvements. The first is a 50 percent improvement in CPU utilization, and the second is better distribution of work among threads.</p>
<p>There are a lot of other things going on with DX12, some of which will be revealed at a later date. As for when you'll see DX12 games, Microsoft says it's targeting the holiday period in 2015.</p>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/microsoft_spills_beans_directx_12_supportedtitles_scheduled_holiday_2015#commentsapidirectx 12dx12gamesmicrosoftSoftwareNewsThu, 20 Mar 2014 21:12:35 +0000Paul Lilly27481 at http://www.maximumpc.comMicrosoft Plans to Detail DirectX 12 at GDC 2014http://www.maximumpc.com/microsoft_plans_detail_directx_12_gdc_2014
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u69/dx12.jpg" alt="DirectX 12 Logo" title="DirectX 12 Logo" width="228" height="228" style="float: right;" />Don't go shoveling dirt on DX12's grave</h3>
<p>It's been nearly three and a half years since Microsoft last released a major version of its DirectX API, followed by a few point releases between then and now. However, if you feared DirectX was essentially done, you can sigh a breath of relief knowing that's not the case. As a new DirectX 12 (DX12) Twitter account exclaims, "Rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated...." Not only that, but <strong>DX12 is only two weeks away</strong>.</p>
<p>Microsoft created the special <a href="https://twitter.com/DirectX12" target="_blank">Twitter account</a> and also put up a <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/directx/p/directx12.aspx" target="_blank">teaser page</a> on its MSDN blog. Next to a giant DirectX 11 box, it says, "Join us at GDC March 20, 2014 10:00am." Underneath the text are logos for AMD Radeon Graphics, Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm Snapdragon, and Windows.</p>
<p>One of the sessions that's scheduled for GDC is "DirectX: Direct3D Futures," which will be presented by Max McMullen, head of the Windows Graphics team. According to the description, McMullen will discuss how future changes to Direct3D will enable next generation games to run faster, as well as how future improvements will allow developers an unprecedented level of hardware control. He'll also talk about reducing CPU rendering overhead across a broad ecosystem of hardware, which could tie in with Qualcomm's involvement here.</p>
<p><img src="/files/u69/dx12_teaser.jpg" alt="DirectX 12 Teaser" title="DirectX 12 Teaser" width="620" height="450" /></p>
<p>In any event, stay tuned -- we'll have more in a couple of weeks when DirectX 12 is officially unboxed!</p>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/microsoft_plans_detail_directx_12_gdc_2014#commentsapidirectx 12dx12gamesgdcmicrosoftSoftwareNewsThu, 06 Mar 2014 15:05:54 +0000Paul Lilly27392 at http://www.maximumpc.comAMD Mantle Interview with Oxide Games' Dan Bakerhttp://www.maximumpc.com/AMD_Mantle_Interview_2014
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u163784/dan_smaller.jpg" alt="dan baker" title="dan baker" width="191" height="196" style="float: right;" />Could Mantle be the next successor to DirectX?</h3>
<p>Oxide Games developer Dan Baker helped answer some questions we had about AMD’s new <strong><a title="mantle" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/mantle" target="_blank">Mantle</a></strong> API. &nbsp;Oxide’s upcoming game, <a title="star swarm" href="http://store.steampowered.com/video/267130/2030754" target="_blank">Star Swarm</a>, will support Mantle out of the gate and the company has been very vocal about Mantle which it believes can help all gamers and also start a dialogue about the future of APIs on the PC.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><strong>Maximum PC</strong>: Most believe Mantle is a low-level API that is very close to the metal. Can you explain why this concept is wrong?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Baker</strong>: Relative to Microsoft's Direct3D (D3D), Mantle is indeed more low-level. But it's not low-level in the sense that we are exposed to individual architectural decisions. For example, Mantle still abstracts the details of the shader cores themselves, so that we don't even know if we are running on a vector machine or a scalar machine. What isn't abstracted is the basic way a GPU operates. The GPU is another processor, just like any other, that reads and writes memory. One thing that has happened is that GPUs are now pretty general in terms of functionality. They can read memory anywhere. They can write memory anywhere. A lot of the things an API has traditionally managed aren't really necessary any more. Mantle puts the responsibility onto the developer. Some feel that is too much, but this really isn't any different than managing multiple CPUs on a system, which we have gotten pretty good at. We don't program multiple CPUs with an API, we just handle it ourselves. Mantle gives us a similar capability for the GPU.</p>
<p><strong><strong>Maximum PC</strong>: You’ve said Mantle really addresses the inefficiencies of DirectX which was architected in the 1990s. Can you give us some examples of the inefficiencies of DX? We know you’ve mentioned DrawCalls as an example.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Baker</strong>: DirectX was architected in a time when two things were true. First, the hardware itself was very fixed-function. That is, there was a lot of secret sauce as to what exactly it did. As shading models became almost completely general, the need to abstract this level become less useful. The best way to think of a GPU is just a processor that runs programs. All we really want our API to do is give us a means of executing little programs on the GPU. This programs are what's in a batch, or a draw call. We don't want it to manage memory, we don't want to 'make things easier for us.'&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u163784/ces_small.png" alt="Oxide's Star Swarm" title="Oxide's Star Swarm" width="620" height="348" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Oxide's Star Swarm RTS promises a huge boost in performance when running AMD's Mantle API</strong></p>
<p>The second problem is that APIs are still designed in this functional threading model where you have a series of processes that pass work back and forth to each other. The idea is that you have say, one thread for rendering, one thread for audio, one thread for gameplay, etc. This is a really not a scalable way to build things. In situations where you have a shared L3 cache, you also create contention from all the different processes running, since they all access completely different memory. The industry continues to move to a job-based setup, where we have lots of tiny jobs that run asynchronously. This can now scale to a large number of CPUs, and we can fill up most of the previously unused time where one of the processors isn't doing something.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><strong>Maximum PC</strong>: Does OpenGL face the same limitations? It’s also a pretty old API at this point.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Baker</strong>: OpenGL has essentially all the core problems of D3D, except that one can add extensions to it. The main difference between OpenGL and D3D is that D3D made an attempt to be threaded, and failed, whereas OpenGL has not yet attempted it. One question is whether it is worth building a new API or making a bunch of extensions to an existing API. You can get some mileage out of making extensions, but extensions can't bridge things like being able to use multiple CPUs. Also, at some point it's cleaner and easier just to hit the reset button, rather than throw yet another feature in a fairly big API. Believe it or not, Mantle is actually easier to support than OpenGL. OpenGL has many unobvious pitfalls and traps, whereas Mantle really doesn't.&nbsp;</p>
<p><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/QIWyf8Hyjbg" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Oxide Games and Mantle Presentation Demo</strong></p>
<p><strong><strong>Maximum PC</strong>: There have been some pretty wild claims of performance increases by going to Mantle. How much have you seen in your game?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Baker</strong>: This depends on how exploitative you are, and the specifics of your engine. For us, we have been completely limited in what we could do by driver overhead problems. We were actually making decisions where we traded GPU performance for CPU–that is, we’d end up doing things that are slower on the GPU, because we could get away with less driver overhead. &nbsp;When you talk about building an FPS, you probably spend much of your time optimizing for the GPU; when you try to build an RTS, you end up optimizing for the driver overhead. Nitrous is a new breed of rendering system. Oxide’s specialty is high throughput.&nbsp;</p>
<p>When you look at Star Swarm, it's really a testament to brute force. For us, we can see cases where Mantle is many times faster, with especially big differences as we add more cores and slow down their clock speeds. We wouldn't expect most games to necessarily see this, as it will happen in cases where you have a really efficient, high throughput engine, but it will certainly make an impact everywhere. We aren't set up to do very precise testing, so we'd rather others do the analysis on this. However, we'd like to point out that our Direct3D performance is absolutely outstanding, relative to what is expected. We have spent a huge amount of time optimizing around D3D, and we feel we are actually pretty biased in D3D’s favor. Mantle, on the other hand, we've spent far less time with and currently have only pretty basic optimizations. But Mantle is such an elegant API that it still dwarfs our D3D performance.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><strong>Maximum PC</strong>: It seems that the main challenge for Mantle to succeed is getting support from Nvidia and Intel. Do you see that as actually happening from a developer point of view?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Baker:&nbsp;</strong>Yes and no. Mantle does detract from other platforms, and we are already seeing a big dialogue in terms of what future APIs should look like. Mantle is kind of the disruptive technology that gets everyone rethinking things. Whether this means a new version of OpenGL, or a new version of D3D, we can't say. But it is clear that they will have to adapt if they want to stay relevant. Some of us have been screaming for change for years. The arguments we got in the past were: 1) it couldn't be faster 2) it would be too hard to use, and 3) we have enough performance, so more isn't useful. We wanted to show that all three of these things are provably false.</p>
<p><strong><strong>Maximum PC</strong>: Do you see a world where developers will have to write for DX and Mantle? How much of a challenge is it to write for both APIs?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Baker:&nbsp;</strong>APIs come and go. Once you support more than one, it's pretty easy to support a dozen–assuming there is parity in the hardware features, and assuming you don't have to rewrite your shaders in an entirely different language. If you release a title right now, you would end up with likely six paths. An Xbox360, a PS3, a PS4, a Xbox One, a DX9, and a DX11. For us, the graphics system is just a module that talks to the API. All we did for Mantle was replace the D3D module with a Mantle one. It's about 3,000 to 4,000 lines of code for the Mantle version, which took me personally about two months to write. In terms of support, at least for us, it wasn't terribly difficult.</p>
<p><em>If you'd like to give Mantle a test drive, you can download AMD's beta drivers for it <a title="amd mantle download" href="http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/latest-catalyst-windows-beta.aspx" target="_blank">here</a>&nbsp;and the Star Swarm stress test <a title="star swarm stress test" href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/267130/" target="_blank">on Steam</a>.&nbsp;</em></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/AMD_Mantle_Interview_2014#commentsamdapiDirect XDirect3Ddx11FAQgraphics cardinterviewmantleOpenGLoptimizationq&a. d3dNewsFeaturesWed, 12 Feb 2014 23:40:10 +0000Gordon Mah Ung27243 at http://www.maximumpc.comAMD Officially Releases Mantle APIhttp://www.maximumpc.com/amd_officially_releases_mantle_api_2014
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u160391/mantle.jpg" width="250" height="166" style="float: right;" />After much fanfare, Mantle is finally available</h3>
<p>The much-anticipated <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/mantle"><strong>Mantle</strong></a> API is ready at long last for its official launch, with an onslaught of drivers and patches enabling low-level API going live yesterday. Those looking to get their hands dirty with Mantle will need to install the Catalyst 14.1 beta drivers which can be downloaded over the next few days from <a href="http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/latest-catalyst-windows-beta.aspx">AMD's official website</a>. </p>
<p>Though initial reports from various testers do appear to be a bit rocky, you can try them yourself if you're looking to expand your PC gaming experience, especially if you're dealing with hardware on the lower end of the spectrum. Mantle's debut might be chugging along and gaining steam, but they have made the commitment to ensure the API is steadily evolving. </p>
<p>As reports on Mantle's performance roll in, we'll of course be following the story as it develops, as well as possible test results and opinion on the matter. In the meantime, if you've set your mind on giving it a test drive, be sure to get back to us with your assessment and results, especially in games like <em>Battlefield 4,</em> which is what it appears most are having issues with.</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/amd_officially_releases_mantle_api_2014#commentsamdapibattlefield 4beta driverscatalyst 14.1mantleNewsSun, 02 Feb 2014 23:54:42 +0000Brittany Vincent27177 at http://www.maximumpc.comEidos and Two Other Developers Vow Support for AMD's Mantle Graphics APIhttp://www.maximumpc.com/eidos_and_two_other_developers_vow_support_amds_mantle_graphics_api2013
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u69/amd_mantle.jpg" alt="AMD Mantle" title="AMD Mantle" width="228" height="182" style="float: right;" />Mantle is on the move</h3>
<p>AMD has been promising big things from its Mantle graphics API, not the least of which is that its flagship GPU will "<a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/amd_r9_290x_will_be_much_faster_titan_battlefield_4"><strong>ridicule</strong></a>" Nvidia's GeForce Titan in Battlefield 4 in terms of performance. As opposed to high level APIs like OpenGL and Direct3D that operate on many different devices, Mantle is a low level API focused on AMD's Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture. There's potential to do some great things with Mantle, and that has developers excited.</p>
<p>The Sunnyvale chip designer said that three more developers are on board to use Mantle. They include Cloud Imperium Games (responsible for Star Citizen), Eidos Montreal (part of the Square Enix Group and the studio behind Thief), and Oxide Games (a new studio comprised of former Firaxis and Microsoft employees).</p>
<p>"AMD's Mantle will allow us to extract more performance from an AMD Radeon GPU than any other graphics API," <a href="http://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/amds-revolutionary-mantle-2013nov4.aspx" target="_blank">said Chris Roberts</a>, CEO, Cloud Imperium Games. "Mantle is vitally important for a game like Star Citizen, which is being designed with the need for massive GPU horsepower. With Mantle, our team can spend more time achieving our perfect artistic vision, and less time worrying about whether or not today’s gaming hardware will be ready to deliver it."</p>
<p><img src="/files/u69/mantle_slide.jpg" alt="Mantle Slide" title="Mantle Slide" width="620" height="349" /></p>
<p>Mantle givees developers unprecedented access to GPU hardware on a low level and affords more fine grain control. It's similar in concept to coding for consoles and it should lead to better looking games, faster performance, and less buggy software out of the gate.</p>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/eidos_and_two_other_developers_vow_support_amds_mantle_graphics_api2013#commentsamdapiGaminggraphicsmantleNewsTue, 05 Nov 2013 13:30:00 +0000Paul Lilly26631 at http://www.maximumpc.comAMD Doesn't Think DirectX API Has a Future Beyond DX11http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/amd_doesnt_think_directx_api_has_future_beyond_dx112013
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u69/dx.jpg" alt="DirectX" title="DirectX" width="228" height="159" style="float: right;" />There will never be a DirectX 12 API, AMD says.</h3>
<p>An executive working for <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/amd"><strong>Advanced Micro Devices</strong></a> (AMD) doesn't believe DirectX 12 will ever see the light of day. His name is Roy Taylor and he's the Vice President of Global Channel Sales for the Sunnyvale chip designer that's very much involved in PC graphics hardware and software. AMD is on the front lines, so to speak, so it's interesting to hear someone from the company say that DirectX is dead in the water.</p>
<p>Taylor made the prediction during an interview with German magazine <a href="http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/AMDs-Vice-President-im-Gespraech-Es-wird-kein-DirectX-12-kommen-1835338.html" target="_blank"><em>Heise.de</em></a>. He was asked about the inclusion of top titles like Bioshock Infinite in AMD's Never Settle bundles, and that's when he dropped the bombshell, if you care to view it as one. As far as Taylor is concerned, the days of refreshing the DirectX API are over, and there will never be a DirectX 12<em>, </em>not for Windows 8, Windows Blue, or any other version of Windows.</p>
<p>Rather than rely on the dead-end API, Taylor says AMD's next-generation GPUs will integrate "other technologies" to take its place, though he didn't divulge any info on what those technologies might be.</p>
<p>Taylor's comments may stem from an email that was supposedly sent from Microsoft to its XNA and DirectX MVP members earlier this year stating that as of April 1, 2014, "XNA/DirectX will be fully retired from the MVP Award Program." The email went on to state that "DirectX is no longer evolving as a technology." Microsoft issued a statement denying the accuracy of the email.</p>
<p>"I can confirm that the original comunication sent to MVPs yesterday was inaccurate," Microsoft stated. "Microsoft has issued a follow-up communication to the DirectX/XNA MPVs reaffirming that DirectX is very much an important and evolving technology for Microsoft."</p>
<p>Unless Microsoft has changed its mind in the last couple of months, we'd venture to say DirectX 12 has a future.</p>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/amd_doesnt_think_directx_api_has_future_beyond_dx112013#commentsamdapidirectx 12dx12graphicsmicrosoftNewsTue, 09 Apr 2013 18:20:17 +0000Paul Lilly25328 at http://www.maximumpc.comDropbox Blocks Torrent Downloading Service Boxopus Over Piracy Concernshttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/dropbox_blocks_torrent_downloading_service_boxopus_over_piracy_concerns
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u46168/megalogo.png" width="228" height="89" style="float: right;" />When Dropbox announced its “get link” file-sharing feature a couple of months back, a number of tech news outlets, including this one, were quick to report on it. Some of these reports, though, focused more on how the feature could make Dropbox popular among Internet pirates. The cloud storage service responded by saying it employs “a number of measures to ensure that our sharing feature is not misused.” If anyone still had any doubts over its intentions, the company laid them to rest on Monday when it blocked (read: killed) Boxopus, a service for downloading torrent files directly to Dropbox, from accessing its API owing to piracy concerns.</p>
<p>While this decision underlines its firm resolve against copyright infringement, the ban on Boxopus has surprised many, including Boxopus founder Alex, as initially Dropbox seemed to have no problem with it.“Once the alpha version was approved we were pretty sure that Dropbox was okay with it, so we put our efforts into optimizing the service. It took us 3 months to finish the product with a team of 5 people, which was a $30,000 USD investment,” Boxopus founder Alex told <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/dropbox-bans-bittorrent-startup-boxopus-over-piracy-concerns-120626/">TorrentFreak</a>.</p>
<p>This is what the <a href="http://blog.boxopus.com/">Dropbox team told Boxopus</a> about its decision to ban the nascent service from accessing its API: “It’s come to our attention that latest Boxopus features could be perceived as encouraging users to violate copyright using Dropbox… We recommend removing Dropbox integration from Boxopus.”</p>
<p>Boxopus founder maintains that the app fully complied with DMCA and Dropbox’s own Terms of Service. However, he isn’t ready to give up yet and is currently holding talks with other cloud storage services in the hope of replacing Dropbox.</p>
<p>What do you think of Dropbox allowing the app at first, only for the permission to be revoked a few months later?</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/dropbox_blocks_torrent_downloading_service_boxopus_over_piracy_concerns#commentsapibittorrentboxopusdropboxpiracyNewsWed, 27 Jun 2012 12:17:15 +0000Pulkit Chandna23657 at http://www.maximumpc.comDropbox Improves Third Party API’s and Beefs Up Security http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/dropbox_improves_third_party_api%E2%80%99s_and_beefs_security
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u46173/dropblox_0.jpg" alt="Dropblox" width="228" height="349" style="float: right;" />We’ve recommended Dropbox to our readers more times than we can count, but with good reason. <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/brief_dropbox_error_allowed_access_anyones_account">Recent security issues aside</a>, its still the best file storage / sharing service in town, and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon. Dropbox has always had a very robust and flexible set of third party API’s, but on Friday the company announced these would be expanding to offer not just <a href="http://blog.dropbox.com/?p=915">more flexibility, but improved security as well.</a>&nbsp;</p>
<p>What does this mean for your average Dropbox user? For one, they are adding support for application specific folders. This means when you install a camera app on your phone for example, you can authorize it to place images in one or more folders of your choosing, without giving that application full access to your entire Dropbox. Third parties will also now be able to tie into the versioning system, which will allow users to jump back to an older version of a file, or recover something that was accidentally deleted.&nbsp;</p>
<p>That covers off the most noticeable changes from a user experience standpoint, however security is also getting a rather important makeover. As opposed to simply typing your Dropbox information into random websites or phone apps, third parties will need to redirect users to the website and allow you to enter your credentials directly. By doing this third party apps are assigned very specific permissions, and never get an opportunity to store your user name and password. This approach makes it easier for users to manage third party access, and more importantly, make it easier to revoke access if needed.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Its great to see Dropbox finally taking security seriously, but they are still missing a few critical features that prevent us from recommending it as a solution for your sensitive data. Multi-factor authentication and client side encryption aren’t just nice to have features for cloud storage these days, its critical for anything you’d like to keep private. Dropbox has openly admitted that each file is scanned and checked against their database for duplicates prior to uploading, and a copy of your encryption key is kept on-hand as a result. This doesn’t mean someone at Dropbox HQ is sitting around sifting through your files just for kicks, but its still a pretty big security vulnerability.&nbsp;</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/dropbox_improves_third_party_api%E2%80%99s_and_beefs_security#commentsapicloudcloud storagedropboxSecuritySoftwareNewsSun, 23 Oct 2011 14:57:14 +0000Justin Kerr20960 at http://www.maximumpc.comGoogle+ Gets Its First Official APIshttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/google_gets_its_first_official_apis
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u94712/googplus_1.png" alt="gplus" width="224" height="200" style="float: right;" />One of the missing pieces of Google+ for many users has been third-party tools, and those can't happen without official APIs. Today, Google has finally taken the first steps toward full developer API access. The <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-20106919-62/google-api-launches-today/?tag=cnetRiver">public data API</a> allows access to all the publicly available data on Google’s social network. It’s a welcome move from a developer’s point of view, but there are many features not included in this release.</p>
<p>The availability of APIs is key to promoting the adoption of a service, and Google has been taking heat for waiting so long to get the ball rolling. This API release won’t allow full read/write to Google+, but developers will be able to familiarize themselves with the tools and access any public profiles, posts, and images. More full-featured APIs will come later.</p>
<p>Google is making the code libraries available in a number of languages including Java, Ruby, and PHP. Google has chosen to use OAuth 2 for secure data transfers. We can only hope this move means Google+ will soon launch to the public with a full API.&nbsp;</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/google_gets_its_first_official_apis#commentsapiGooglegoogle+Social NetworkingSoftwareNewsThu, 15 Sep 2011 21:51:52 +0000Ryan Whitwam20354 at http://www.maximumpc.comThe Khronos Group Unveils New OpenGL 4.2 Standard http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/khronos_group_unveils_new_opengl_42_standard
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u138055/opengl_logo.jpg" width="228" height="207" style="float: right;" />Maximum PC's blunt no-BS review policy may lead some folks to believe that we're a bunch of hardassed curmudgeons, but actually, we're big softies sometimes. We love cuddling up with a nice, warm graphics card, for example (assuming the proper cooling systems are in place, of course). And everyone enjoys a good open-source project. OpenGL combines the best of both worlds; awesome graphics backed by open-source standards. Today, the Khronos Group, the nonprofit organization in charge of OpenGL, gave the platform a boost with the release of the OpenGL 4.2 standard.</p>
<p>Want some hard details about the new features? The <a href="http://www.khronos.org/news/press/khronos-enriches-cross-platform-3d-graphics-with-release-of-opengl-4.2-spec">press release</a> provides a quick bullet list:</p>
<ul>
<li>enabling shaders with atomic counters and load/store/atomic read-modify-write operations to a single level of a texture.&nbsp; These capabilities can be combined, for example, to maintain a counter at each pixel in a buffer object for single-rendering-pass order-independent transparency; &nbsp; </li>
<li>capturing GPU-tessellated geometry and drawing multiple instances of the result of a transform feedback to enable complex objects to be efficiently repositioned and replicated; &nbsp; </li>
<li>modifying an arbitrary subset of a compressed texture, without having to re-download the whole texture to the GPU for significant performance improvements; &nbsp; </li>
<li>packing multiple 8 and 16 bit values into a single 32-bit value for efficient shader processing with significantly reduced&nbsp; memory storage and bandwidth, especially useful when transferring data between shader stages. </li>
</ul>
<p>It only gets more technical from there, folks. If you're the kind of person who enjoys wading through a swamp of tech specs, you can <a href="http://www.opengl.org/registry/">check out the entire OpenGL 4.2 standard for yourself at the Khronos website</a>. Nvidia's already rolled out OpenGL 4.2-compatible drivers to coincide with the announcement, and AMD plans on introducing 4.2 beta drivers of their own today.</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/khronos_group_unveils_new_opengl_42_standard#commentsapigraphicsKhronos Groupopen sourceOpenGLSoftwareNewsMon, 08 Aug 2011 17:56:14 +0000Brad Chacos19798 at http://www.maximumpc.comGoogle+ to Get Developer API Soonhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/google_get_developer_api_soon
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u94712/vic-gundotra.jpg" alt="vic" width="228" height="171" style="float: right;" />One of the things that has made Twitter such a success, even as Facebook continues growing, is its API access. Having an API allows developers to plug into a service to improve the experience and ecosystem. Google+ has only been live for a few days, but Google’s Vic Gundotra told Cnet that <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-20075974-250/developer-api-for-google-its-coming/">API access</a> is coming soon.</p>
<p>Gundotra’s last post was that of VP of platform evangelism. Most readers will recognise him from his Google I/O talks when he dealt with Android. Frankly, Gundotra knows how to bring developers into the fold.&nbsp;</p>
<p>It is unsurprising that Google+ launched without a firm developer API. It is still in closed beta and many features are likely to change. When Google has cleaned up the rough edges, we expect developers to get a crack at it. For the time being, interested developers can contact Google to be notified when the API rolls out.</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/google_get_developer_api_soon#commentsapidevelopersGooglegoogle+Social NetworkingNewsFri, 01 Jul 2011 21:16:41 +0000Ryan Whitwam19281 at http://www.maximumpc.comMicrosoft Slams WebGL, Considers It Harmfulhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/microsoft_slams_webgl_considers_it_harmful
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u69/webgl_x.jpg" width="228" height="132" style="float: right;" />Don't expect Microsoft to endorse WebGL (Web-based Graphics Library), the Khronos Group's cross-platform, low-level 3D graphics API for the web. Though it's supported in Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, and will be coming to future versions of Apple Safari and Opera, Microsoft is refusing to support WebGL in its current form because several security risks make it harmful, the Redmond software giant said.</p>
<p>"Our analysis has led us to conclude that Microsoft products supporting WebGL would have difficulty passing Microsoft's Security Development Lifecycle requirements," Microsoft said in a <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/srd/archive/2011/06/16/webgl-considered-harmful.aspx">blog post</a>.</p>
<p>One of Microsoft's key concerns is that browser support for WebGL directly exposes hardware functionality to the Web in a way it considers to be overly permissive. According to Microsoft, the security of WebGL as a whole depends on lower levels of the system, including OEM drivers, and while it might be possible to mitigate some of the risks, "the large attack surface exposed by WebGL remains a concern."</p>
<p>In addition to videocard driver vulnerabilities, Microsoft says WebGL relies too heavily on third parties to secure the Web experience. Microsoft caps off its concerns by pointing out problematic system DoS scenarios.</p>
<p>"We believe that WebGL will likely become an ongoing source of hard-to-fix vulnerabilities," Microsoft said. "In its current form, WebGL is not a technology Microsoft can endorse from a security perspective."</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/microsoft_slams_webgl_considers_it_harmful#comments3DapigraphicsInternetKhronos GroupmicrosoftonlineSecuritywebglNewsFri, 17 Jun 2011 14:17:43 +0000Paul Lilly19076 at http://www.maximumpc.com